Protests In Tel Aviv In The Wake Of Gay Attacks In Israel

by Yuliya Talmazan | August 2, 2009 at 08:07 pm

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Hundreds of people came out onto the streets of Tel Aviv in Israel on Sunday to protest the killings of two people shot dead at a gay youth centre yesterday. Around fifteen people were injured. The protesters came out with rainbow flags, laying flowers outside the centre. The gunman was masked and is on the run. Police have launched a massive manhunt for the killer. Some openly gay officials in Israel are calling the killings "homophobic" and "the worst attack against the gay community in Israel."

Tel Aviv's mayor, Cabinet ministers, the country's chief rabbis and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu condemned the attack.

Previous NowPublic coverage here.

probably a zionist or extreme religious nutter! Damn him!

Thanks for this, yuls.source. Would you mind adding the tag 'sexuality' so this story will also appear on NowPublic Sexuality Special News Coverage channel. Thanks:)!

I am certain you suggested this with the best of intentions. I am also glad there is such a channel on NowPublic. However, a question and a remark:

This was a bigoted attack on innocent people. To their attacker it had to do with sexuality, to the victims themselves it had to do with a lifestyle. Why should it be tagged 'sexuality'? Would a similar attack on heterosexuals in a nightclub be tagged 'sexuality'? I don't think so. Sexuality is simply not the main issue here. It's Hatecrime.

When stuff gets tagged with words such as sexuality there are all manner of filters out there so caring parents can protect their children from 'stuff'. I have more than once encountered totally innocent sites, that happened to deal with things Christians don't like. These had been tagged by vicious fundamentalists as 'adult only'. The consequence of tagging this hatecrime as 'sexuality' is that the whisperers behind such attacks, the true instigators, are less confronted with the consequences of their beliefs.

So, my suggestion is don't tag it 'sexuality'. Tag it 'hatecrime'. Or 'faith' if you so will.

Good point Melanie. Sounds like hatecrime today.

How about homicidal homophobic crime? hatecrime means just hate crime of which we all should. its not a good tag in my opinion. Homichomo crime for short.